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Friday, February 07, 2014

Blood Simple: Uncle Sam Wants You, Especially When There's So Much Illicit Money In It

by

Abby Zimet

The latest scandal to hit the U.S. military - following hard on the sex, drugs, drinking and cheating ones - has implicated up to 1,200 Army recruiters, including about 200 officers, for pocketing up to $100 million in bogus bonuses for signing up young, broke, ill-informed and other unfortunate innocents to go fight their dirty wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Under the now-discontinued program, which was begun in the National Guard and expanded to the Army and Army Reserve, soldiers got cash payments of up to $7,500 - which once upon a time would have been called a bounty - for each new warm body recruited into the increasingly thinning, bloodied ranks, especially at the height of the Iraq War. At Senate hearings this week, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo, called the years-long abuses "discouraging and depressing," even as she and many others said the system pretty much invited fraud and kickbacks. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is likewise "deeply troubled." The newest scandal, his spokesman said, raises the possibility the military has a “systemic” ethics crisis. You think?

"He is generally concerned that there could be, at least at some level, a breakdown in ethical behavior and in the demonstration of moral courage.” - Hagel spokesman.

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Further

Tom-Joad-like, celebrity chef and Spanish immigrant José Andrés has opened a pop-up kitchen in D.C. to help feed thousands of federal workers being stiffed by the Man-Baby-In-Chief. Andrés' non-profit World Central Kitchen, which has fed millions of disaster victims in Puerto Rico and around the globe, served almost 10,000 meals in two days, with long lines of tearful, angry people grateful for a hot meal. Andrés' homespun, humane mantra: "What's good for you, must be good for all."

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